Investment Management

At Northstar, we take a smarter approach to investment management by focusing on activities that are within an investor's control. First, our belief in fair pricing leads us to create "passive" portfolios designed for diversified exposure to the capital markets. Then we are free to actively manage each client's wealth in ways that add long-term value. Our approach allows capital markets to work for you by efficiently capturing their rewards through a structured, broadly diversified, cost effective process that avoids unnecessary risk.

At Northstar, we work one on one with you to create a customized investment portfolio tailored to your financial needs, goals and risk tolerance. Since our selection of investment vehicles is unencumbered by the influence of commissions we can choose from among thousands of options the most appropriate investment vehicles for your goals. In addition, we continually strive to find ways to minimize your investment costs and act as your advocate. Our clients include individuals, trusts, endowments, retirement plan sponsors and business entities. All have direct access to our expertise and advice.

Northstar is among a select group of advisors qualified to provide access to Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA), a leader in market driven investment research and low cost fund offerings. We also recommend Vanguard funds and selected Exchange Traded Funds as well as CDs and other fixed-income options. We deliver the advantages of a disciplined investment strategy with access to Institutional Markets.

Structured Investing Is More Than a Style of Investing.

We share a fundamental way of looking at markets, and thinking about the realities of economics as well as human behavior. You don’t have to have an advanced degree in finance to understand and benefit from these fundamentals. It’s our goal and passion to help you apply them effectively toward your financial future. We do so by managing your investment portfolio according to these essential characteristics:

Long-term outlook — Creating generational wealth requires consistent, disciplined exposure to the long-term growth the markets are expected to deliver over time. But this is often easier said than done! In the short-term, the market is a noisy, distracting place. We help you replace reactionary, emotion-based decision-making with the stable context of a long-view, customized investment plan.

Expected risks and rewards — Over time, the markets are expected to reward investors for taking on market risk. But that risk can be very real and very painful, especially if you take on more than makes sense for your needs. To meet your risk-exposure requirements while dampening the discomfort, we apply two important, academically guided strategies: diversification and discipline.

Diversification and discipline — When it comes to building a portfolio, too often the focus is on selecting the right manager. A better approach is to understand that portfolio construction is actually a structured and disciplined process, of which manager selection is a small component. We spread your risk by widely diversifying your holdings worldwide, steering clear of the avoidable risks inherent in over-concentrating your holdings on any one “bet.” We then help you stay put. We believe (and the evidence demonstrates) that attempts to move in and out of the market in reaction to current events is not only emotionally unsatisfying, but can detract from your long-term returns. Instead, we adopt a “be there” strategy for expected long-term growth.

Cost controls — It is intuitively and empirically clear that the fewer dollars you sacrifice in the form of trade costs, taxes and other fees, the better chance your investments have to accumulate — for you. By paying sharp attention to this important factor, we help increase your odds for success.

Structure is the Strategy.

You’re seeking a deliberate and thoughtful investment process designed to help you achieve your lifetime financial goals and focus on what matters most to you. Whether it is putting your children through college, philanthropy or a secure retirement, structured investing combines extensive research from academics and economists with practical application and experience.

Your life and your goals are dynamic and multifaceted; which is why it is important to work with a financial advisor who regularly monitors your portfolio and aligns it with your goals. Ultimately, the success of your portfolio is measured by whether or not it helps you accomplish your objectives. With our structured approach, the noise and confusion of the markets can be removed by simplicity, prudence and confidence as your portfolio is constructed uniquely to realize your most closely held goals.

Structured Investing is more than a style of investing. It is a fundamental way of looking at markets and thinking about economics and human behavior that is grounded in reason and prudence and focused on creating a well-executed plan for your financial future. The alignment of your portfolio with your goals requires:

State-of-the-art portfolio design blending asset classes that encompass the U.S. market, developed international markets, markets in emerging economies, and high-quality fixed income to dampen portfolio volatility.

An understanding that making investment decisions based on intuition or emotions and outside the context of a strategic investment plan is damaging to the creation of generational wealth.

Ensuring that you steer clear of avoidable risks including holding too few securities, betting on countries or industries, following market predictions or intuition, or speculating on “information” from rating services.

In order to scientifically diversify your portfolio you’ll need a full range of asset classes that includes small and large stocks, domestic and international stocks, value and growth stocks, emerging market stocks, global bonds, real estate, and even municipal bonds. Because the asset classes play different roles in a portfolio, the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts. You’ll have the ability to achieve greater expected returns with less price fluctuation and more consistency than they would in a less comprehensive approach.

Structuring a strategy around compensated risk factors lends purpose and an element of risk control to your portfolio. Rather than analyzing individual securities, investing becomes a relatively straightforward matter of deciding how much stock to hold versus bonds, and how small or large, and value- or growth-tilted the portfolio should be.

In the past, with unfortunate degrees of ineffectiveness, traditional managers have done one of two things: Active managers focus on picking individual stocks, the antithesis of diversification; index managers hold many securities, but mimic arbitrary benchmarks.

At Northstar, we understand that you seek a different path — a path where a structured strategy is based on scientific evidence rather than on speculation or commercial indexes. You stand to benefit greatly from a fully diversified, risk controlled portfolio that is constructed with reduced expenses, minimized tax exposure, and low trading costs that continue to be the keys to investment success.

Northstar Investment Management allows capital markets to work for you by efficiently capturing their rewards through a structured, broadly diversified, cost effective process that avoids unnecessary risk.